Chad Catalano named Northlake Christian baseball coach

Chad Catalano takes over the baseball team at Northlake Christian. (Chad Catalano)

Persistence and faith can pay off.

It was shortly following a game between Mandeville and Northshore in the Northshore Summer baseball league that Chad Catalano was in the middle of seeking the first head coaching opportunity of his young career.

Even recognizing he was at a disadvantage due to a lack of head coaching experience, he stayed focused and kept applying for coaching vacancies. Then, Northlake Christian came calling, and his prayers were answered.

On Thursday, Catalano had finally landed with the Wolverines as their new head baseball coach.

“It’s an exciting and unique challenge,” Catalano said. “We are going to have an approach and a plan, focusing on the little things by paying attention to detail.”

Catalano and the 2014 Northlake Christian baseball team will have a chance to meet each other for the first time during a meet-and-greet at a local pizzeria July 23. It’s part of the message he wants to deliver and the culture he wants to instill.

“One of the things that was told to me in the interview process, and the thing that I firmly believe in is that we need to keep Christ first in everything we do, at home, in the classroom, and on the field," Catalano said. "If we do that, everything else will fall into place. So, the first job is to begin building team unity.”

While it may be his first head coaching experience, he’s certainly had the benefit of working with one of the area's top high school baseball coaches in Northshore’s Rick Mauldin, who won state titles as a head coach at two schools, including his first at St. Paul’s.

Catalano, a 2002 St. Paul’s graduate, and a 2006 Southeastern Louisiana graduate, also had his very own baseball academy in Mandeville, and he coached youth baseball for the past six years. But the part of his resume' that sticks out is his 2013 season under Mauldin, in which he picked Mauldin's brain for every ounce of knowledge he could get his hands on.

“He taught me about having an approach and paying attention to detail,” Catalano said. “And, by eliminating the mistakes, you put yourself in a much better position to win a game.”